The number one fashion workshop for shojo manga is…

Shojo Fashion Manga Art School: How to Draw Cool Looks and Characters

Brought to you by Irene Flores (the world’s coolest artist)

From ‘dos to shoes, how you dress and style your characters says a lot about who they are, before they even utter a word. Whether your story calls for a flashy drama queen or a mousy bookworm, this guide contains everything you need to know to create fabulous shojo manga characters with personality.

 Inside you’ll find page after page of instruction and inspiration on: 

1. The Figure. Follow simple basics to draw guys and girls of various body types, in any pose.

2. The Face. Learn how to draw an endless variety of features, getting the feeling across with facial expressions, from a subtle quirk of the mouth to all-out crocodile tears. Then add the perfect hairstyle–the icing on the cake.

3. The Look. “Shop” from an illustrated gallery of clothing and accessories for every season and occasion, from formal dresses to bunny slippers, with demos and tips on designing your own original fashions.

4. The Setting. Portray your character’s world, with demonstrations on how to create classic hangouts like classrooms, coffee shops and bedrooms.

Complete with 14 start-to-finish demonstrations for drawing a range of character “types,” from the girl next door to the punk guy, from single characters to couples and groups, this book will help you bring a world of unique and memorable characters to life … and have lots of fun doing it!

Preorder Shojo Fashion Manga Art School now at Amazon.com.

This just in, Dracopedia: A Guide to Drawing the Dragons of the World, by William O’Connor is available now for preorder from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It’s 160-pages of guaranteed dragon goodness! Look for it in book stores and art supply stores everywhere starting in September.

The Jim Henson Company announced a new publishing partnership with Archaia Comics earlier this week. Kids of the ’80s dance your cares away! Red, Wembley, Mokey and the gang will be one of the first Henson productions adapted into graphic novel format. Reps from both companies will announce the creative schedule for the radish-noshing frenemies of Doozers and other Henson entities at San Diego Comic-Con in July.

This joint venture is definitely IMPACTastic, though let’s hope they install an audio chip in each Fraggle book’s spine that plays the theme song with the press of a button. Listen to this guy play it on a six-string.

From left to right: Wembley, Red, Gobo, Mokey, Boober

Yes, that’s right. We had to cancel our IMPACT University event that was scheduled the day before ComicCon. Thanks so much to those of you who signed up and expressed interest.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen opens in theaters this coming Wednesday, June 24. While it may not be an Oscar winner, the latest Transformers movie promises to be action packed and full of explosions. Check out the trailer here.

Want to create your own transforming robots? Check out MechaForce: Draw Futuristic Robots that Fly, Fight, Battle and Brawl by E.J. Su.

Want great art instruction at the click of a button? You’re in luck! Many of your favorite IMPACT books are now available for purchase on ebooks.com. DragonArt, Dreamscapes, Street Scene and Face Off (just to name a few) are already available, and more are on the way. The downloads can be viewed on tablet PCs, PCs, Macs and laptops.

While you’re at it, don’t forget to sign up for our e-newsletter by clicking the link at the top of the page. This link will take you to our sister site, www.artistsnetwork.com.

Hey IMPACTians!

What’s 1 hour from Toronto, 2 hours from Buffalo and 3 hours from Detroit? The IMPACTastic Waterloo Arts Festival in Waterloo, Ontario this coming weekend.

This eclectic celebration of visual and performing arts aims to expand your artistic consciousness. And hey, IMPACT author David Okum will be there and so will this guy:

Later on when you’re out and about (or oat and a-boat in Canadianspeak) in wonderful Waterloo, check out the nearby African Lion Safari park or the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. The latter’s main building looks like something straight out of Doug Chiang’s book Mechanika. Pretty slick.

Brian Miller, expert colorist and IMPACT author, has just completed two sweet new dvds on digital coloring. Introduction to Hi-Fi Digital Coloring does just what it says—it teaches you the most popular tips, tricks and techniques for coloring digitally, including breaking down an image into flat color and then adding cool light effects. The second dvd: Special Effects for Digital Coloring gives you the inside secrets behind eye-popping special effects.

Both dvds include the artwork used in the video so you can follow along as you learn to color the Hi-Fi way.

Don’t forget to sign up for our e-newsletter by clicking the link at the top of the page. This link will take you to our sister site, www.artistsnetwork.com.